


Forgiveness

by RikkuRiddle



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Could also be seen as friendship, M/M, very vaguely implied Akira/Ryuji
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:15:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24125008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RikkuRiddle/pseuds/RikkuRiddle
Summary: Akira had saved Akechi but would he ever forgive him?
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 1
Kudos: 31





	Forgiveness

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I just mostly needed to get this out of my system. I'm not done with P5 yet, currently in the last Mementos palace. (P5 The Royal is sitting on my shelf, waiting patiently. xD)
> 
> I had a lot of emotions during that interrogation scene, like... boy, was I in distress. I managed to save Akira but I was so upset with Akechi. Even with his whole backstory (don't know the expanded stuff from The Royal yet), I was like "Okay, cool motive. Still murder." Nobody shoots my boy in the head, okay... Ugh. 
> 
> Tbh I'm not a big fan of Ryuji but somehow thinking of him and Akira in the way their dynamic works in my story, made me like him more. xD
> 
> I'm not a native speaker and the story is not betaed. Also don't know if I'll add to this one-shot because I'm actually in the middle of another huge story in another fandom. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy! :)

Akechi was watching Akira. 

He usually was. What was he talking about? He always was. 

They had saved him, accepted him. Hell, they'd even welcomed him into the group. With Akira’s consent. Despite everything he'd done. 

The only thing Akira had withheld so far was his forgiveness. 

Akechi had suspected as much from the way Akira looked at him. But during a moment when the others hadn’t been around, Akira had told him head-on that a headshot was a little too personal for easy forgiveness. 

At the same time, Akira had made it clear that he wasn’t out for revenge. The others knew how Akira was feeling and, unsurprisingly, hadn’t tried to convince him otherwise. He’d been the one with his life on the line, he’d been the one who’d got beaten up, drugged and abused and none of that had happened in the Metaverse. He’d taken it. For his friends and none would ever forget it. 

And even though they’d known of Akechi’s double dealings early on, seeing him go through with it all was an entirely different thing. 

So Akira not being able to forgive him wasn’t all that surprising. 

In fact, Akechi couldn’t even blame him. 

He hadn’t felt sorry when pulling that trigger. He'd felt relief. It was done. Over. He would never have to face Joker or Akira again. He'd had nightmares for weeks but in the moment he hadn’t hesitated. Even now it was still replaying before his inner eyes. The way Akira's eyes had widened in shock, the sound of his head hitting the table, the spreading pool of blood. 

Yes, it had only happened in the Metaverse but one did still feel pain in Metaverse just like in the real world. Akechi couldn’t imagine what that must've felt like. 

He hadn’t seen Akira for quite a while after the events in the interrogation room. So he didn’t know what state Akira had been in afterwards. But he remembered Akira's appearance in the interrogation room. Metaverse or no. Pale, bruised, exhausted. The marks on his wrists that the cuffs had left and the syringes on the floor. They’d beaten and drugged him and Akechi had killed him in the end. 

Sometimes the realisation that they were all still going to high school felt bizarre. 

So… why after all this, did he wish Akira would forgive him? He knew he had no right do demand anything from him. But… 

There were a lot of things he didn’t understand about Akira. 

Why was he doing what he was doing? Everyone else in the group seemed to have personal reasons for joining the Phantom Thieves but Akira had been there from the start. Akechi knew about his father framing Akira for a crime he hadn’t committed. But was that all? Somehow he doubted it. 

It was hard to tell much of anything with Akira. 

He was always so quiet, withdrawn almost. But he wasn’t shy. During most meetings of the group, he’d sit quietly, listening to and watching everyone until eventually, invariably, they would ask for his opinion or even for a decision on how to proceed. And they would follow that decision. It was his word in the end that would decide the matter at hand. They were depending on him, on his strength. But where did that strength come from? That resolve? 

No one in the group knew all that much about Akira either. 

But it didn’t seem to matter. There was no doubt that Akira was with them until the end. He’d been ready to give his life to save everyone. What more could one ask? 

One way or the other, every single one of them had managed to overcome hardship in their respective lives due to Akira being by their side. Or so they’d told Akechi and he had no reason to doubt them. Perhaps most prominently the effect Akira had on the group was visible when it came to Ryuji. 

And somehow… it was also the thing that bothered Akechi the most. 

Akechi didn’t dislike Ryuji. He was undoubtedly loyal and big-hearted, implacable when it came to injustice but from what Akechi had seen Ryuji was also loud, hot-headed and not particularly smart. All traits that grated on Akechi greatly which was also why he was the one Akechi got along with the least. 

But he’d seen Akira and Ryuji together. How Ryuji had been ready to blow, like most of the time, and Akira had just looked at him or pulled him aside with a few quiet words and Ryuji had practically deflated. Once he’d overheard such a situation. Not entirely by accident either, he had to admit. 

And… 

They’d all been in a café discussing their next mission and Ryuji had been shouty throughout the whole event, testing everyone’s patience, until Akira had stood up, nodding towards the side entrance. Ryuji had blustered a little but then gone along without really putting up a fight. 

Akira had pushed Ryuji against the wall, his palm flat against the other’s chest. For a long moment he’d only looked at Ryuji, who’d avoided his gaze, evidently flustered. 

“What’s wrong?”

Ryuji had huffed and puffed before he answered. Apparently the case hit a little too close to home and he just couldn’t contain himself. Akira had pressed his hand against Ryuji’s chest a little harder when he noticed Ryuji becoming agitated again. 

Somehow that gesture calmed him down. Ryuji had sighed and slumped against the wall, muttering how Akira was right and he was sorry. But Akira had told him that there was nothing he had to apologise for. He just needed to keep his temper in check a little better. 

After that Akechi had noticed several times how Akira would look at Ryuji whenever the other was about to start another shouting match, and he’d just raise his eyebrows slightly or smile in that telling way and Ryuji's reaction was almost instantly. Or Akira would inconspicuously place his hand on Ryuji’s arm or shake his head ever so slightly. 

The unspoken communication between those two was unmistakable yet nobody apart from Akechi seemed to really be aware of it. 

For some reason it kept bothering Akechi. So much so that at some point he’d mentioned it to Haru but she’d just smiled benignly and said how they all knew Akira was working his magic on Ryuji and they were just grateful that someone was able to reign him in now and then. 

Which hadn’t helped Akechi to let it go at all. 

He was… Maybe he was… envious? But that made no sense… 

Why did Akira care so much about Ryuji? Specifically him. Maybe there was more and if there was it really wasn’t any of his business. He needed to leave well enough alone. 

But he couldn’t. 

Akechi couldn’t stop thinking about Akira. 

Most of the time it looked as if Akira was sleeping poorly. He was always a little pale around the nose and there were shadows beneath his eyes with his glasses and fringe hiding only so much. Yet he was never anything but strong and supportive. He would joke and complain about exams but Akechi knew Akira was almost always top of the class. 

Perhaps Morgana was the only one among them who ever saw another Akira. But if he was, he wasn’t talking. Only sometimes, he wouldn’t take his eyes off Akira or curl up on his lap or around one of his legs as if offering support. 

And then there was Joker. 

Joker was… everything Akira seemed to hide. 

The smirk, the unflinching gaze from behind the mask, that managed to fluster even Akechi, and the ease with which Joker moved through the Metaverse. He seemed perfectly at home. 

It completed his picture of Akira and yet it confused the picture as well. 

“Akechi?”

He jumped a little, looking up. “Oh. I’m sorry… I must’ve drifted off.” He smiled apologetically. “What were you saying?”

It was Akira who caught his eyes, a small smile curling the corners of his mouth. And in that moment the vision of him and of Joker almost seemed to overlap. 

Akechi couldn’t help but stare, his stomach tying itself into knots. 

Would he ever get more than just a glimpse of who was truly hiding behind that mask? But… mostly importantly, would he ever be forgiven? 

The gunshot was ringing in his ears all over again and from the way Akira was watching him, gaze unblinking, his thoughts might very well mirror his own.


End file.
